Serious talks
by camilas
Summary: COMPLETE. Short fic with (not so) short chapters. The Weasleys have a few serious talks after the events on the 5th book.
1. Goodbye at King's Cross

First draft. I own nothing. Feeling to lazy to write more in here. Have fun. Or not. Feedback will be very much appreceated indeed.

Chapter 1 – Goodbyes at King's Cross

Harry's reception commitee was saying their farewells. Lupin, Tonks and Moody were on their way back to wherever they were going. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking to the Grangers, Hermione by their side. But Ron stood rooted to the spot, staring at Harry's retreating back.

"I hope this talk helps", he said aloud to himself, thinking about all that they had been through, especially Harry, and that a lousy summer wouldn't be of much help to him. Ron hoped that this time they could indeed get Harry away from the muggles as soon as possible. But where to? The thought of going back to Grimmauld Place after what had happened wasn't of a very cheerful sort and made he frown.

"Where's Ron?", asked Hermione as the twins and Ginny approached her lot. They looked around for a few seconds and noticed that he was still on the same place with a scowl on his face as though he was considering something of deep importance. Hermione was going to him but the twins beat her to it. Fred smacked him hard on the back of the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?", Ron said while rubbing his head.

"Pleasent way to wake a Weasley up from his reverie", said Fred, putting an arm around Ron's shoulder only to be shoved off.

"Touchy! Anyway, dear brother, are you coming home with us or have you decided to spend your summer here?", George asked while approaching and patted Fred on the shoulder in a sympathetic way.

"Good idea too, staying here. This way you won't have to go through all the trouble of unpacking and packing and unpacking and packing and etc" Fred spoke gesticulating wildly.

"Incredible amount of work that is. You got me tired just thinking about it. All the underwear and robes folding... oh wait, we don't have to do that anymore. It's all solved magically!"

"Yes, we've crossed the underage line..."

"And a long time ago that was"

"... and are now fully grown wizards."

Ron stared at this brother as though they were extraterrestrial beens who had just come out of their spaceship and looked very odd indeed. "Fully grown... yeah, right... you like to think that of yourselves."

"Yes, we are, thank you very much. Wouldn't you say so, Ginny? That we are great wizards? Huh, Hermione?", Fred asked the girls who had come to talk to them.

"Oh, yes... the best at exploding things and whatnot", Ginny nodded. Fred and George bowed in response.

"Honestly, I don't think you should be talking about these kind of things here.", was Hermione's reply, which came with a stern look. "I mean, we're surrounded by... well, muggles and we're not supposed to go around advertising..." she waved her hands around, leaving the phrase unfinished.

"Relax, beautiful lass, it's all under control", George winked.

"Besides, people really don't pay all that attention to others nowadays", Fred added.

"Unless it's us wanting for attention, of course, since we have our own dazzling light", with that said, Fred and George exchanged a look, Hermione raised an eyebrow and Ron and Ginny had a small grin on their faces. "I guess I have just... kind of agreed with you, haven't I?"

"Point taken. We shall never more let our good-looks attract people's attention when it may give away secrets" Fred said solemly helding up his hand. Ron only snorted.

"Yeah, I know", George said, looking serious, "it's impossible not to attract people with our good-looks".

"Right. Anyway, I've just come to say goodbye... my parents... we are going now", Hermione looked at Ron for a brief second before being taken by surprise by the twins, who had engulfed her in a hug. "Air... I... need... air".

They let go of her, but not before each planting a quick kiss in her cheek.

"Have a very nice summer!"

"Think of us and you shall entertain yourself for hours. C'mon, let's go, Ginny"

Hermione, Ron and Ginny had been pretty much in shock with their behaviour to actually do something. Fred and George took hold of their younger sister and started pulling her with them.

"Ah... wha... but..." was all that she could muster before giving up and allowing them to take her away. She looked over her shoulder and shouted "Bye, Hermione. I'll write".

Ron and Hermione stood there watching the scene for a few seconds with looks that were a mixture of shock, amusement, confusion and one or two other things. Slowly, Hermione turned to Ron.

"They are... very... excited... today"

Ron snorted. "Overly excited, more like it. That's them, though. Sometimes they're not even funny, just freaking scary". He still had his brow furrowed and was watching the twins and Ginny laugh and keep glancing towards him for some unknown reason.

Hermione looked towards them and quickly turned away for she had caught Ginny looking at her. "Yeah... anyway... Ron, I am really, really concerned about Harry".

Ron noted the worry in her tone of voice and looked into her eyes. "I know, me too"

"We need to keep an eye on him or something."

"Yeah... mom told me we're going to try and get him out of the Dursleys... I dunno where to, though. But I know I'll be there." His look had mingled emotions that Hermione wasn't quite sure which ones where, but she knew he was asking her if she'd be there too.

"Me too. I don't know how my parents... are going to feel... or if they discussed it with your parents... but... I need to be there too. We need to be together. For Harry. And for ourselves", she hesitated a little and then slowly lifted her hand and placed it on his arms. Frozen for a few miliseconds, they looked at each other and Ron's ears went a little pink.

Hermione almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice behind her said "Hermione, dear, we must go now". It was her mother with a gentle smile in her face.

"OK", Hermione answered and, again, placed her hand on Ron's arm and this time gave a little squeeze and said simply "Write".

"Sure", Ron nodded and watched her walk away with her parents.


	2. Fred and George being serious

Once I had a teacher who instructed us how to write essays. He'd say to firstly write everything that came to mind (even if it turned out to be bs), to let the ideas flow, and then go back to the text and implement changes and improve it. In this fanfiction, I'm at the let-the-ideas-flow phase. I'm not even bothering to spell check right now (the program is not working properly). I'm just getting the idea out of my mind. Once it's done, then I'll come back and try to make it... better? Well, not as bad as it is now, at least. But only when it's all done. For now, I give you the first draft of the second chapter. Enjoy (or not)!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter and all that's related, I'd be pregnant with my third child. All you see here points to own belly is fat.

Chapter 2 – Fred and George being serious

The Weasleys had arrived at their house, The Burrow, just a few minutes ago. Ron was in his room, unpacking while waiting (and what a long wait for his poor empty stomach) for dinner. He was content that he was home, but not that much. Everything seemed painfully the same. The gnomes had invaded the garden, the ghoul kept banging on the pipes, his bedroom was the same usual orange... and yet a lot of things had changed, people had died, a whole war had started... all because of Voldemort. But none of these things seemed to have had any effect on The Burrow. That felt just odd. And he, who had the emotional range of a teaspoon, was conteplating these thoughts while looking out of his window when someone knocked.

"Ron, dinner's ready", it was Ginny. "Are you all right?", she had noticed something unusual going on with her brother.

"No, I'm starving. Why did it take _so long_?", he answered turning around to face her.

"It took five minutes. What's that?" she pointed to something on his hand.

"Ah... this...", his ears went a bit pink, "just a picture of us, the one we took during the Quidditch World Cup", and he placed the picture on a shelf. "I'm unpacking"

"And you took this to Hogwarts? I thought you said you looked funny on this picture."

"He _always_ looks funny in pictures."

"I'd say he _always_ looks funny", the twins had just entered the bedroom.

"I think it's his nose"

"Or his red hair"

"Or his freckles"

"Now, now, red hair and freckles are quite charming"

"What do you _want_?", Ron asked irratated.

"Yeah, mom sent us here to tell you dinner's ready", said Fred.

"She sent _me_ to do this", said Ginny walking towards the door.

"Maybe she thought you'd forget"

"Or maybe _she_ forgot she sent you"

"And _maybe_ we should _go_", Ron interrupted before they started a whole discussion about amnesia. He started down the stairs being closely followed by his siblings who kept saying something about he, Ron, eating everything on the table and letting them starve to death.

Dinner was a surprisingly good affair. At the table sat Mr and Mrs Weasleys, Fred, George, Ginny, Ron and Bill, who had gone to The Burrow specially to welcome his younger brothers. Sore subjects were avoided and they saw themselves talking about their childhood, embarrassing each other ("and then Fred ran naked around the house in front of the guests") and laughing. They were all having a good time, being nostalgic, something that happens every once in a while with every family. They were all feeling very satisfied indeed, or maybe too much.

"Ow", it was George, rubbing his stomach, "I think I ate too much".

"It was delicious, Molly"

"Yeah, mom, it was great... can I have more pudding?", Ron asked with puppy eyes.

"Of course", said Molly with a huge smile. Seeing her family like this was one of the things that pleased her the most. Fred and George, on the other hand, seemed shocked.

"How can you eat more? You ate more than us together!"

"I need to eat, I'm growing."

"And if you keep growing, you are going to sweep the ceiling with your hair", said George, who was eyeing the pudding with a certain longing in his eyes. "But I think I'll have some more too".

Fred eyed them with his mouth open. Then he closed it and grinned. "Save me something"

"Help yourself". And they all had second helping of pudding, including Ginny, feeling even more satisfied afterwards.

After dinner, they went to the living room. Arthur sat on his chair reading the paper, Molly was kniting, Ron challenged Bill to a game of chess and the twins and Ginny were playing their own game, which involved two packs of cards, running around the house, rope skipping and shouts of "don't break anything" from Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, look, Bill's beating Ron up badly", said George, stopping temporarily his rope skipping. Fred and Ginny went to look for that was indeed something rare to occur, Ron losing in a game of chess.

"That's part of the strategy", said Ron frowing.

"I bet", Ginny rummaged through her pockets, "a... erm... a Ton-Tongue Toffee that Ron's still going to win"

"Is it all that I am worth?", "You don't think _I_ am going to win?" and "Hey, you can't bet with our products" were some of the replies she got. But before she could answer any of those, a large owl came fluttering down the window, dropped a letter at the chess board, knocking all the pieces down, and flew away.

"Stupid bird", Ron muttered and picked up the letter. "Mom it's for you... it's from... _Penelope Clearwater_?"

"What?", Fred took the letter from Ron and George and Ginny tried to look over his shoulders, "Percy's girlfriend?"

"It's mom's, let her have the letter", Bill took the letter and held it to Molly, who had jumped at the name Clearwater. She looked at Arthur, who was also standing, and tore the envelope open. They read the letter while the others stared at them and tension filled the air.

"What does it say?", Bill asked, trying to catch his mother's eyes or read his father's expression. "Mom, what does it say?"

"It says that Percy talked to Penelope. He is... he wants to talk to us but is... He asked her not to write but... she thought it was the right thing to do. She says that he said something about arranging a meeting with us." It was Arthur that answered, rigid, with a frown on his forehead, Molly had thrown herself back into the chair and had started sobbing.

"Does it say something about apologizing?"

"Stupid prat, won't even write a proper letter"

"Fred, Ron, this is not helping", Bill said while trying to comfort his mother.

"Boys, Ginny, go to your rooms", Arthur told them and sat beside his wife.

Bill made signs that they should leave the room and that he would talk to them later. Not really knowing what to do but call Percy all kind of nasty names, they left and walked up the stairs, pausing briefly to listen to what was going on downstairs.

"I don't like listening to mom crying", Ginny said and then continued climbing up the stairs to her bedroom. Ron and the twins did the same not long afterwards, each going to his bedroom.

Not even 5 minutes after Ron had closed his door, he heard a knock. It was Ginny.

"I could still hear it". Ron gave her a sympathetic smile and made a sign for her to get inside. They sat on the bed and, suddenly, two figures apparated in front of them.

"We went to your room", George said to Ginny, sitting down on the bed "but you weren't there".

"So we came here", Fred finished for him, sitting down on a chair.

"I could still hear mom crying... and I couldn't stand it... all because of that" and she called some names that made her brothers say "Ginny!". "What? It's true! He's... just..."

"He's stupid, all right. But mom and dad wouldn't disown him even after I did my best to convince them", Fred said, looking mournful.

"You told them he's a walking dungbag with a hat", George replied with a little smile on his lips, smile which passed on to all the others who entertained themselves a few moments by finding other amusing dung-related things to call Percy.

"Too true, though", Ron broke the sequence. "But still, he's their son. It's not like they're going to abandon him, I suppose.", they agreed. Their parents, and specially their mother, would never turn their backs to a son. Molly had kept trying to contact Percy even though she kept getting no answers. She was sure that he'd return some day, or at least send a letter.

"What's with Bill, anyway? Sending us away but staying?", Ginny laid her head down on George's lap and put her legs on Ron's. She had always felt comfortable when she was with her brothers, when they were not teasing her, that is.

"Cozy there?", George asked, smiling. "Of course you are. My lap works wonders" and Ginny pinched him playfully. Ron who, on the other hand, was never very comfortable when anybody laid anything on his lap, asked "Yeah? What's with Bill? Just because he's older or something?"

"I'd say let him handle it. He's older", Fred raised one finger, "more experienced", raised another, "and knows very well how to calm girls down" and raised yet another. "and I _hope_ that includes mom. All _I _felt like doing was beating Percy senseless, but he's not here, so it's quite useless."

"I think we all felt like kicking Percy's ass badly", George said, receiving an ugly look from his sister. "Ah, come on, Ginny, you said something much worse earlier on and I don't even dare to ask you how you learnt that."

Ginny sat up right. "From living with 6 older brothers, that was. Well... 5 brothers".

"You wish it were 5. Mom forgiving Percy, as she will, she's going to want us to treat him the same", Ron said with a scowl. And Ginny replied with a "5 and a half, then"

"Yeah, you're right. They're going to want us to _behave_", Fred grimaced at the thought. "But you just wait till I get my hands on him-"

"You're not getting your hands on anybody", Bill interrupted him and leaned on the doorway.

"Bill!", Ginny almost jumped, "how's mom?"

"She's calmed down", he answered and the whole how-Percy-is-stupid thing started again and he noticed the mean looks they had, "and I _mean_ it, you're not getting your hands on anybody" he added. "It's not how things should go. Even though he's done all those things, he means a lot to mom and dad. And by the way, I didn't hear any of you asking me about dad."

He saw by their expressions that they all simply didn't expect anything to be wrong with him. He had been shocked with the news, but he hadn't started crying or anything.

"You know, just because he wasn't crying doesn't mean it didn't affect him badly. He has a different way to cope with it." As they didn't say anything, he went on. "He drank some firewhisky before going to bed. And gave some to mom too. This whole affair is very bad for them. They love us equally and having a son... walking away like Percy did, after a lot of fights... and turning his back on them... it's very painful. Especially in times like this, with a war and you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or even later today. And if anything happened to him... or to them.. or to one of us... and we being apart... broken like this, just the very thought of it is a torture for them."

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Ron broke it by saying "I don't know if that was supposed to make us not feel like hitting him with a good hex"

"I know I'm feeling even more compelled to choose a jinx that'll-"

"Look", Bill, once again, interrupted someone, this time it was Ginny who was speaking. "I myself would very much like to put some sense into his head even if it needed to be done by opening it with a butter knife. But it won't help anything. If much, it's going to make mom and dad feel worse. We _don't have_ to love or idolise Percy", to that, Fred said that Percy would die of self pity if they didn't idolise him. "I'm serious here", Bill continued. "We don't even have to like him. But for mom and dad, we should try to _at least_ be polite to him. And that's all that I am asking of you. Be Polite."

"Ok, you got that. Because it's _you_ who's saying and for mom and dad". Ginny gave her revenge up after considering Bill's word and because she cared way too much about her parents to make them suffer because of a dungpile with chopsticks (she had said that one).

"I still want to "and Ron made some signs with his hands to which the twins nodded and said they'd gladly do the same. Bill sighed.

"I have some things to do and I need to go. Ginny, try and put some sense into their heads"

"With a butter knife?"

"Even if it needs a butter knife. Bye" and he disappeared while Ron was shouting for him to wait. "Damn, he never said what was in that letter"

"Probably what dad said. We can get the letter or ask Bill later." George answered standing up and walking till the door, then closing it. "Anyway, he wasn't half as nice to Percy that other day", he said looking at Fred.

"What other day?" Ginny asked .

"He went to our shop", Fred answered. George had walked to the windown and was leaning against it with his arms crossed with a dark look on his eyes.

"Percy?", Ron asked mouth opened.

"Yeah... we were there, me and George, of course, and Bill."

"He said he had gone there to congratulate us on our ...entrepreneurial action, he said."

"That was pretty much all he had time to say. Bill saw him and grabbed his arm and steered him out of the store"

"We couldn't leave, there was no one else to watch and the shop was full."

"I did see a lot of gestures, including rude ones, and then Percy disapparated"

"When Bill came back in, he was very upset"

"And beet red. He went straight to the back of the shop. We closed it as quickly as we could and joined Bill. Believe me, you wouldn't want to see him on a state like he was. He kept pacing up and down and muttering things that didn't make sense at all."

"And that's just not like him"

Ginny and Ron were listening with their mouth opens, surprised with this new information. "Did you... did you tell mom?", Ron asked.

"Nope", Fred answered, running his hand through his hair. "We decided that we shouldn't tell anyone. And judging by his oh-let's-all-be-friends-with-Percy talk, either _he_ is going to apologize or is just not going to mention it", a certain disgust could be noticed by his tone of voice.

"That's why I said he wasn't half as nice to Percy the other day. I did notice that, after this... meeting... Bill changed a little... started reading some chinese proverbs or something..." and he cited one proverb "Do not be afraid to grow slowly. Be afraid to stand still. Or something like that. I can't really see how he used it, but maybe it changed his mind".

"Wow...", Ron finally spoke. "Maybe Percy _is_ trying to get back". And he told them about the letter he had received from his brother telling him not to be friends with Harry. "Disgusting, really. He never, you know, broke off completely."

"But to send a letter like this", Ginny said, shaking her head, "he should have stayed put. But anyway, proverbs or not, I am doing what Bill said. I am going to be polite, that's all."

"We'll see about that. I don't really feel like being polite to someone who 'severe bonds' with me. And what was Bill doing at the shop anyway?"

"Visiting. And you are welcome to go there anytime. In fact, if you want to _work_ there during summer, I'll put in a good word for you" and Fred winked with that. But George gave him a significant look, which was caught by Ron and Ginny.

"What?" they sad at the same time. George looked at them, then at Fred who nodded. He, George, then slided down the wall in which he was leaning and sat on the ground.

"WHAT?!", Ginny and Ron said again, impatient. Apparently Fred and George were preparing themselves to say something big, for they both took a deep breath and looked very serious.

Looking at his hands, George asked "Do you remember the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Of course we remember the Order of the Phoenix! Do you think we have mental disabilities?"

"You'll have if you continue with this crabby mood"

"Ron! Fred! Please! What _about_ the Order of the Phoenix?" Ginny intervened. She wanted to know what this was all about.

"Well", George continued, "after a lot of hard work... meaning mostly convince mom and dad... Fred and me joined the Order." Ron and Ginny were taken aback with this.

"You convinced mom?" Ron asked with, once again, his mouth hanging open.

"Joined against her will, more like it." Fred said, cracking his fingers. "She really couldn't keep us from joining. We are of age, we've left Hogwarts and we can be of very good use."

"How? What have you done?"

"Actually, the day Bill went to the shop, he had gone there to tell us he had talked to mom and that she had said she couldn't stop us from joining because of all that Fred said, except the 'be of very good use' part. She never thought very high of our habilities."

"But Fred just said you joined against her will"

"I did say that. She couldn't stop us from joining but she made us promise we wouldn't tell you or Ron or Harry or Hermione... any of you anything"

"But that's unfair!", Ron exploded. "Things are _always_ happening to us, whether we want it or not. We should be aware of what's going on". Ginny was too outraged by this.

George raised his hand. "Save your breath, will you? We agreed with her to make her happy but we don't think it's fair either. We are going to tell you all we can".

After a few moments of silence in which Ron and Ginny kept glancing back and forth from Fred to George, Ron finally said "Well?!"

"What?"

"Aren't you going to tell us?"

"We would if we knew anything. Now that the Ministry admited that You-Know-Who is back and after that mess there, there's not really anything new.", George said, standing up.

"Exactly, it's the same story... Harry's muggle relatives' house still being watched, even when he's not there."

"What do you _do_, then?", Ginny asked.

"Not much, just the same thing everybody else is doing", George answered stretching herself. "We keep w-w-waaatch", he yawned.

"Of what?"

"Everything. Anything. We just have to keep our eyes open, which is kind of hard right now, to see what's going on. Having the store at Diagon Alley is really helpful because we get to talk to other owners of shops and find out what they're up to".

"Which is, most of the times, some dirty business move. Yeah, it's not much" Fred added after he saw the look on Ron's face, which showed clearly that he thought that this was nothing important. "But everybody's doing this. Besides, we get first hand news from the other members. And the most interesting is about what's going to happen to Grimmauld."

"It's Harry's n-n-nooow", George said with another yawn. "It's up to him what's going to happen with it"

"Dunno if that's good or bad", Ginny said. "I mean, it was Sirius's and..." she did not finish the sentence. After this a heavy silence fell.

Fred couldn't hold back and yawned too, then shook his head. "This thing is contagious. Anyway, enough of talking, I am going to bed."

"Me too, I am beat. And we have to wake up early tomorrow."

"Wait, can't you go the normal way and walk me to my room?", Ginny asked.

"'Course, mylady." Fred answered, offering his arm for her to take.

They wished good night to Ron and, after they had left, he turned off the nights and laid down on his bed to think about all that had been said in his room. It turned out to be a very eventful "reunion". Remembering everything about Percy made him clench his fists and sit up right. Then he thought about the Order of the Phoenix and Grimmauld Place and he wondered how Harry was and how would he feel when he got the news that he was now its owner. He imagined how difficult would be for Harry to, once again, enter the house where his grandfather had lived and wondered if him, Ron, would ever be there again.

His head about to explode with so many thoughts, he had now fully understood Hermione's word at King's Cross. They needed to stick together. For everybody's sake. And, after deciding to write a letter to Harry and Hermione the next morning, he finally fell asleep with the image of Hermione and the feeling of her touch in his arm revived.

* * *

A/N: This chapter turned out to be longer than I thought it would be and the dialogue at Ron's room too. But I am _not_ going to change it now. This ending sucked. Ah well, that's life. Did you not like it? That's great! Review! Did you actually like it? You need to talk to a professional then.


	3. Another Day

Howdy. It took me forever to update this story but I do have a very good excuse. I forgot I was writing a story. Yup, that was it. It's true, what with the Olympic games and my country losing an incredible amount of games, I really forgot it. I even had to re-read what I had written (finding scandalous mistakes) in order to remember what I wanted to do. So, after a long time of absence, here it is, the third chapter.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Harry Potter and everything related, I'd have a really cool website. I don't even have a DND sign to put on my door.

Chapter 3 – Another Day

The day started like any other. The sun was rising, the birds were singing. And the Weasley twins were invading their brother's bedroom. Not that they did that every single morning, but every once in a while during summer. They crept in very silently, trying to find the best way to wake Ron up without resorting to any method already used (ice thrown inside his clothes, shouts of "earthquake" or, the worse, spiders on his bed). Slowly they approached the bed and then they noticed something.

"Something is _up_", Fred whispered.

"Yeah... look at his face", George answered also in a whisper. "He has the stupidiest grin possible"

With a strange feeling that he was being watched, Ron started to wake up slowly against his own will, for he wanted to continue the so very nice dream he was having. Noticing what was happening, the twins decided they would give Ron an old-fashioned fright: just be there watching him when he woke up. That usually left him a bit paranoic for a week or so. Finally opening his eyes, Ron saw a couple of freckled faces looking right at his own. He jumped out of bed pulling the covers with him, becoming entagled with them and falling hard on the ground.

"Goodday!", Fred said cheerfully, "had a good night of sleep?".

"I dare say that he did have a very good night of sleep and had very pleseant dreams", George said with a mischievous grin.

Ron was too busy puffing and trying to free himself from the covers but still managed to ask "what do you want?"

"The day is just begining, we've only come to say good morning and he's already in a bad mood. Tut", Fred said while helping Ron to get out of the web formed by the covers. "I don't need your help", Ron muttered, but allowed Fred to help him nonetheless.

"Anyway, dear bro", George said, looking at the mirror and fixing himself. "We've also come to say that, if you are to work with us, you ought to talk to mother about that, we don't know her plans for the summer. But if you are to come, you start next week "

"Think about that. Working at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. How glorifying."

"We ought to go or we'll be late to the meeting with the suppliers"

"Yes, business awaits for us. Farewell little brother" and with a little noise Fred disapparated.

"You can go back to sleep now" and George too disapparated.

Finally completely desentagled but still on the ground, Ron stared at the empty stop where his brothers had stood and snorted loudly. _Go back to sleep_, he thought to himself, _like that's gonna be easy!_ He threw the covers on the bed and grunted. _And I was having such a nice dream, I was with Hermione and_... He froze, stiffened, scowled and said aloud "It was NOT that!".

"Already up, dear? Who are you talking to?" Mrs Weasley was freely walking around Ron's room picking up dirty clothes.

"Mom! No one. How are you?"

Molly looked at Ron with a weird expression, as though she thought he was slighted perturbed. "I am... fine. And you, darling, are you OK?" She promptly let go of the basket inside which she had put the clothes to go check Ron's temperature. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Mom! I'm fine!", Ron said, pushing her aside. "I asked because... just... ", he sighed, "good morning" and smiled.

With a slight frown, but smiling back, Mrs Weasley answered. "Good morning to you too. Why are you up so early? Ginny's already up too, dunno what happened to you two. _And_ she's cooking breakfast, says she wants to help." She picked up the basket. "If she doesn't burn anything, it should be ready in about 5 minutes." She opened her mouth as though to say something but decided against it, only smiling again and then she left the room.

After staring for a second or two at the door, Ron decided that this day had started in a very odd way and to make sure that not everything was weird, he thought of going down for breakfast. And then he remembered that Ginny was making the breakfast. She had never complained about helping around the house, but to cook was something she had never tried before. "If you can't beat them, join them", Ron said to himself, thinking that _maybe_ he should de-gnome the garden later.

Having finished his morning hygiene process, Ron started down the stairs and was passing by Ginny's room when he heard a weird noise coming from it. Going inside to check what it was, he saw that an owl was trying to enter the room through the slightly open window but got stock because there were a lot of books preventing the opening to get wider. As soon as he took the books out of the way, the owl pushed open the window and flew inside the room, dropped a small letter and flew away. Curious as to what it was about, Ron bended down and picked it up, only to find Ginny's name written in Hermione's handwriting. Curiosity growing on him even more (_I just want to know what they have to talk about, that's all_), he practically ran to the kitchen.

"Gin- ow! What's that smell?" he was greeted by a wave of air that smelled much like burnt rubber as soon as he step foot on the landing.

"That's... very well toasted toast!" Ginny replied laughing her head off. He took a seat at the kitchen and looked at her arching an eyebrow. She explained, still laughing. "Well, you see... I burnt the toast, spilt down the milk and the cheese is so well melted that it's liquid."

"You are a great cook."

"Thank you very much."

"But what's with the rubber smell?"

"I dropped a fake wand inside the fire. Stuff happens".

"At least you tried, dear." Mrs Weasley had just entered the kitchen, now holding a basket with clean clothes. "Sit down, you two, I'll take care of the breakfast. You can try again another day, honey".

"Yeah, I think I will"

"Maybe you should try again only at Hogwarts. Speaking of which, this has just arrived to you" Ron handed her the envelope.

"A letter from Hogwarts?", Ginny asked, confused.

"Nope, from Hermione."

"Then why did you- ah, never mind. I wonder what's she writing me for."

"I was wondering the same thing. You talked to her just yesterday."

Ginny shrugged and tore open the envelope, inside of it was a little piece of paper, with a note. After reading, and Ron observed the whole proccess carefully, Ginny had a small smile playing on her lips.

"What does it say?"

"It says that she's leaving Hogwarts to pursue her dream of being an activist for the animal rights."

"WHAT?" Ron tried to take the letter from her but she managed to keep it out of his reach.

"What's the matter with you two? Ron, sit down properly. Here." It was Molly serving them breakfast.

"I just wanted to know what Hermione said in the letter."

"She wrote to you?"

"No, to me."

"Then you _don't_ have to know, Ron, let the girls have their secrets", with this reply Molly sat down to eat breakfast with them and Ron grew grumpy and Ginny's grin grew wider.

"Actually, that's ok. It's just about something we were talking about on the train."

Despite of himself, Ron lifted his head and payed attention to what Ginny was saying. "Here, you can read it". She passed on the note to Ron, who, as a sort of revenge, read it aloud.

"_Dear Ginny, remember that we were talking about music once and I told you about this singer whose songs I happen to like and I kept humming one of her songs because I couldn't remember the lyrics? Well, I was reading this magazine and there were some parts of one of my favourite songs and I remembered of you instantly and stopped at the post office (luckily, I was near a wizards community). Here it is. _That's it? She wrote to you for that?"

"Yeah. And I think it's good that she wrote me, it shows that she remembers."

"What's the song?" Molly asked. "You read everything, except the lyrics".

Ginny took the note from Ron and read the lyrics aloud.

"_What am I to you / Tell me darling true / To me you are the sea / Fast as you can be / And deep the shade of blue_ . Hermione says that's all there was on the magazine, but she could remember more. _When I look in your eyes / I can feel the butterflies / Could you find a love in me / Could you carve me in a tree / Don't fill my heart with lies / I will you love when you're blue / Tell me darlin' true / What am I to you_. It's by someone called Norah Jones".

Ron made a funny noise with his throat and then said: "It doesn't even have a meaning".

"Of course it has. You just can't see it". Ginny replied and Ron was about to answer back when they heard their mother sniffing. "Mom, are you ok?" Ginny asked apprehensively, but Molly was already drying her eyes and waving her hands. "It's nothing", she said standing up.

"It's ok, you can tell us" Ron gave an assuring look and so did Ginny, which made Molly look at them with tear in her eyes.

"It's just that... that song reminded me of your brother, Percy", looking at the state of their mother, Ron and Ginny couldn't say a word against Percy now and so they just let her go on. "That song is about love and broken love", she sat down and looked at them with intensity and showed with her look how much she had been hurt. "My love for you... all of you, can never break... I will never stop caring for all of you, no matter how much you grow, I'll always think of you as my babies. But sometimes your actions, your decisions, they hurt me... us, your father and me. And Percy... we love him just the same, but he just won't come back, he won't even admit that he was wrong." She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand again, and Ginny noticed she had tears in her own eyes while Ron felt a lump on his throat. "Your father and me were once talking about having kids. We said that having kids is allowing your heart to walk outside of your body. And right now", she started sobbing, "my heart is- is shattered... it's – missing a piece". Molly couldn't help it anymore and started crying again in the kitchen. With a "ow, mom", Ginny cried together with her and Ron looked upwards in order to contain a trickling sensation he had started feeling in the corner of his eyes.

It took them quite a while to recompose themselves. Molly kept saying she shouldn't have cried in front of them, that they shouldn't be dealing with this kind of things when Ron finally said that they were there for her as much as she was for them. Her eyes had watered again, but she didn't cry, she gave both Ron and Ginny a long hug and then they went on with their normal lives, each of them running different chores. Ginny helped Molly inside the house and Ron, feeling the need for something more physical, maybe to take out on something else what he was feeling towards Percy right now, and having decided he had had too much of emotions to last him a lifetime, he did what he had thought about in the morning: de-gnoming the garden. If Fred and George were there, they'd be impressed at how far Ron could throw the gnomes at that moment.

Soon lunchtime came and went, the day was passing quickly. It was in the middle of the afternoon when Molly called Ron in to have some refreshments.

"You need to drink something. You've been out in the sun too long."

"Yeah", Ginny said, "you're going to dry up, dehydrate and die."

"Glad to see you both worry about my well being."

"It would take an awfully long time to clean the garden and get rid of the evidences, that's all". Surprisingly, it was Molly who said this with a playfull smile on her face. She went inside and beckoned them to join her.

"She's in a much better mood."

"She started looking at some pictures and suddenly... she was happy." Ginny answered Ron's unasked question with a slight frightened look.

"She's not..._ on_ something, is she?"

"Ronald! Ginevra! Are you coming?" Came the shout from the kitchen, making them forget their worries and hurry to meet it. Comfortably sitting in the living room, the three Weasleys took a break from their activities and had nice cold pumpkin juice with sundwiches. Starting to feel lazy, Ron remembered of the letters he had thought of writing and said "I think I'm going to clean Pig's cage" when he was actually thinking about taking the opportunity to send Pig to Harry and Hermione.

"Don't bother, I already did that", Ginny said, making Ron stop on the middle of getting up from the couch.

"Why?", he asked suspiciously.

"I used Pig to send a letter and cleaned his cage. I hope you don't mind".

"You should have asked first", Ron replied, throwing himself back on the couch and starting to turn red.

"Now, Ron, don't be so possessive", Molly said with a reconciliating tone of voice.

"It's _my_ owl!"

"And it wouldn't kill you to share some of your possessions with your sister", Molly stood up and collected the empty plates and into the kitchen.

"It's the _only_ thing I have that it's mine and I _still_ have to share it" Ron muttered under his breath.

"Calm down, will you, I won't use Pig anymore, trust me", Ginny said on a much lighter mood. She decided that Ron's attitude wouldn't bother her just then.

A few moments and some calming breaths later, Ron decided that maybe that matter wasn't worth all of this, or at least he wanted to show Ginny that he didn't care so that she wouldn't have any weapons to use against him. She always new how to use things against someone. Trying to sound as friendly as possible, Ron asked

"So, who did you write to?"

"I wrote to two people so I think it'll take some time till Pig's back".

Mentally kicking her, Ron said "that's ok."

"I wrote to Dean and sent an answer to Hermione".

At exactly the moment that she mentioned Hermione, Mrs. Weasley entered the living room, with another plate full of sandwiches and a jar of juice. Both Ron and Ginny looked at her apprehensively, as though the mere mention of their friend's name would trigger some kind of reaction on Molly. In fact, it did, but quite differently than they thought it would.

"Oh, speaking of Hermione, can you read me the song again?" noticing the somber expressions and the frowns that her kids now carried, she said "Oh, I am not going to cry again. I just thought of something else that goes well with the song."

Ginny, with a look that clearly said that it was up to her, Molly, the decision, said that she would get the letter in her room. In the meanwhile, Ron started bitting his nails. Noticing her son's behavious, Molly sat next to him on the couch and patted his leg. "I appreciate your concern, son, but I am much better now". Ginny arrived at that moment and sat on the ground, opening, once again, the envelope. "Let's have it then, can you sing it?", Mrs. Weasley asked cheerfully.

"No, I don't remember the tune. Anyway..." and Ginny read, once again, the lyrics that Hermione had sent her. This time there was no crying, instead Mrs. Weasley had a knowing smile on her lips. After listening the same words a few hours ago, she had cried, and now she was with a happy smile on her face. That was reason enough to make Ron and Ginny think that their mother had finally cracked. Having gone through great emotional distress lately, Molly was very sensitive and would feel any emotion with great intensity. The crying and the support of her kids was what made Molly feel stronger and that she wouldn't need to cry anymore because it would be all right, so she allowed herself to be happy, even for a few minutes. And at that moment, that was how she felt. Good memories flowing through her mind, she simply felt happy.

"Mom?", Ron waved a hand in her face. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, yes, dear, I am fine, just fine."

"Why did you ask me to it read again?" Ginny asked, curiously. This earned a glare from Ron who was sure that if Molly started talking again, they'd start crying again. Not him, mind, only they, the females.

"I was looking at some photographes and... I saw a picture of our wedding. And how we looked happy, Arthur and me. And I remembered what you had read and it reminded me of the night he proposed", Molly answered with a slight excitement in her voice. Ginny also grew excited, she had always liked listening to her mother tell the stories. Ron, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. He was definitely not interested in listening to this kind of conversation, but he lingered there, too lazy to move, and now not really worried about crying.

"Why did you remember? Did he sing you a song?"

She shook her head. "I already told you how he proposed. What made me remember was only because, the night before the proposal, I had asked him exactly _'what am I to you?'_", Molly smiled. Ron made himself more comfortable for now he was thinking about taking a nap. "That was all"

"Oh. And that was how he answered, then? By proposing? You told me about the night he proposed already, but you never told me about the night before.", Ginny crossed her legs and rested her head on her hand.

"There's nothing much to tell, really. We had a little fight and I asked him that and he answered that I meant everything to him and that he was preparing a surprise to me for the next day. I begged him to tell me what it was, but he wouldn't. And it was the proposal". Both Ginny and Molly were smiling and Ron turned to the other side only not rolling his eyes because they were closed.

"Mom... how did you know... that daddy was the one you were supposed to marry? Was he the only one you dated?"

Molly giggled (Ron snorted, but couldn't sleep so he opened his eyes and listened, but didn't turn to look at then). "Well, I did have some dates before your father, but with him, it was different".

"Yeah, but how did you _know_?" Ginny insisted, part out of curiosity, partly because she honestly enjoyed these conversations and also because she was happy to see her mother smiling again.

"I know it might be cheesy to say but... love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. And Ginny, once we started dating, I couldn't imagine myself without him. And that's an advice I give to you" and turning to Ron and poking him on the ribs "and to you too". Ron rolled his eyes but kept them open and looked at his mother. Ginny was eagerly listening. "I say, fall head over hills. Find someone you can love like crazy and who will love you the same way back."

"Yeah, thanks", Ron said sarcastically and closed his eyes again. His mother playfully pinched him.

"Don't mind him, mom. He's deprived of any kind of emotion"

"Thank you, someone who actually knows me".

"Be alone for the rest of your life, then." Molly said, still playing, and turned to Ginny. "But I am serious, Ginny. The truth is, honely, there's no sense living your life without all of that. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love... well... you haven't lived a life at all."

"Well, you can't say she's not trying", Ron sat up, stretching himself. "She's dated that dumb boy from Ravenclaw and now she's seing Dean" he said with a certain disgust.

"Mind your own business!"

"Ronald, respect your sister. She's young, as you are, and she ought to have her own experiences, as _you_ should", Molly and Ginny exchanged a look and then looked back at Ron, who wasn't looking very pleased.

"Why are you looking at me for?"

"Now, honey, you ought to try too. Because if you haven't try, you haven't lived. But don't just do it, you have to mean everytime and there'll be that one time when you'll trully forget your head and you'll listen to your heart."

"I appreaciate your concern", Ron said, tapping his mother's shoulder and standing up. "But if there only was a shorter version to-"

"Stay open, honey." Molly interrupted. "Who knows? Lightning could strike", and with that she glanced quickly at Ginny and then back at Ron, who turned red a little, but quickly composed himself.

"With that I agree. Lightning definitely could strike... Ginny" and he gave her a look full of meaning.

"Hey! I _am_ trying. You don't really think I'll find the love of my life at the age of 14, do you?" she replied, purposely "not catching" the meaning that Ron wanted to give to the lightning.

Ron opened his mouth to reply, but it was Molly who spoke. "If you are or not, we don't know, but you sure are going to help me with dinner. Your father and your brothers are going to be back soon. Come on" and she entered the kitchen to go back to her usual activities and Ginny followed her, after exchanging a little smile with Ron and picking up the plates and glasses they had used.

Looking at the letter Ginny had forgetten, Ron picked it up and read again.

"_Lightning could strike_" he said and snorted to himself, but carefully traced Hermione's handwritting with his finger. A handwritting that he knew so well, from copying all those homeworks, and a person who he knew so well, from being her friend for such a long time. But one thing he didn't know about her. Had lightning _ever_ struck her? He lingered on the question a bit, contemplating all its meanings. Had she ever liked Harry? What was going on with her and Krum? And that thought made him a little pink behind his eyers. A completely different shade of pink from the one he had at the next thought. Had he ever thought about, well, him?

"Wow, what am I thinking?", Ron shook his head, coming back to himself. Certainly the family was going through difficult times, what with his mother acting weird and him having thoughts that, most certainly, weren't his. Shaking his head again, he left the letter where he had found and picked up a glass that had been left behind and walked towards the kitchen with the intention of helping in something. As he walked, he thought with himself and hoped that the summer wouldn't be as those last two days were, eventfull and filled with contrasting emotions.

"Because if it is, _everybody_'s going to be living at St Mungo's by the end of it".

THE END

* * *

A/N: I never thought of going much further than I have. I shamelessly copied parts of the movie Meet Joe Black. The song belongs to Norah Jones, it's called _What am I to you _and it's in her album Fells Like Home. Please, if you still have some patience left, dis me on the review.


	4. And the credits go to

Hello! Before someone accuses me of plagiarism, I've decided to post this note indicating exactly what I consciously based on to write the story. But hey, maybe I did use somebody else's idea without noticing too. If that happened, I am sorry and intend to correct my mistake. For now, I give you the lyrics for the song that was on Hermione's letter and the dialogue of Meet Joe Black from which I borrowed some parts. At the end, there's a very, very long list of replies to the reviews I got.

The Song

What am I to you, by Norah Jones (Album: Feels Like Home)

What am I to you

Tell me darling true

To me you are the sea

Fast as you can be

And deep the shade of blue

When you're feeling low

To whom else do you go

See I cry if you hurt

I'd give you my last shirt

Because I love you so

If my sky should fall

Would you even call

Opened up my heart

I never want to part

I'm giving you the ball

When I look in your eyes

I can feel the butterflies

I love you when you're blue

Tell me darlin' true

What am I to you

Yeah well if my sky should fall

Would you even call

Opened up my heart

Never wanna part

I'm giving you the ball

When I look in your eyes

I can feel the butterflies

Could you find a love in me

Could you carve me in a tree

Don't fill my heart with lies

I will you love when you're blue

Tell me darlin' true

What am I to you

What am I to you

What am I to you

The Dialogue

Movie: Meet Joe Black. It's at the begining of the movie. Anthony Hopkin's character (AHC) is talking to his daughter about her relationship with a man that, he notices, she doesn't love.

AHC: I know it's a cornball thing. But love is passion, obsession someone you can't live without. I say, fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy and who will love you the same way back. How do you find him? Well, you forget your head and you listen to your heart. And I am not hearing any heart. Cause the truth is, honey, there's no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love, well, you haven't lived a life at all. But you have to try, 'cause if you haven't tried, you haven't lived.

At this point they say one thing or another and then she asks for a shorter version of the speech.

AHC: Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike.

I thought that some parts of the dialogue would fit very well in the story and so I copied. But having Anthony Hopkins say it was a lot better. I just love his voice. Erm... uh... right. I wish my father would talk to me like that. The only thing he asks is: have you guys had a fight yet? Have I just gone off topic again? Ah well.

The Reviews

First of all I'd like to thank all of the 354867468764687 people who reviewed. Since I couldn't possibly reply to all of you, I randomly chose 4 people to reply to. Yeah, I've only had 5 reviews so far (two from the same person, which explains why I chose 4, in case you couldn't come to that conclusion). But that's great, I thank you all who took your time to not only read it but also comment on the story. And hey, maybe one day the number of reviews will be indeed the first mentioned number and then yes, this will be a very, very long list of replies and thank-yous. Reviews stand from last to first and, if new reviews are to come, I'll continue with the arrangement of last to first.

**_hydraspit_** – I'm happy you liked this extra chapter, but who came up with the idea was you, so thank you. And I didn't have any ideas for more stories... until I stopped a little and thought about your "write more about the Weasley"... hm... ideas start coming... hmm... And your story is great, I'll make sure to stop by and read some more.

**_Miss Pirates_** – thank you for taking your time to review each chapter. Your reviews are really appreciated and you had patience to review all 3 chapters! Yay! Thank you. And your comment about the twins, that made me really happy, first because I love them to death, and second because you approved the writing, and this coming from you, whose humour in stories I loved, is very meaningful. Thanks again.

**_hydraspit _**– Hey, maybe I am a shrink who's in need of patients and all I did was on purpose. Just kidding. ) Thank you very much for your humorous review and I pretty much added this note because you said you hadn't seen Meet Joe Black and then it hit me that, maybe, just saying I had copied from it wasn't enough. People had to know what was mine and what wasn't. I think. Or maybe not. Ah well, now it's done. As for a new story, I don't have any plans to writing any just now. Glad you liked this one.

**_Pirate Fancier _**– Thankee. I hope you find your way back to my fanfic. And lovely nickname, by the way.

**_katie _**– Thank you very much indeed. Having the them interact with one another is very import in my point of view because... well... because everybody interacts with somebody eles. And sometimes people don't give much an idea of groups interacting and that's what I tried to do a bit. I hope it didn't look like a pitiful attempt.

**_urew_ – **Your wait is now over! The last chapter is up! And I hope that you, too, find your way back to the story's page. Thank you for reading it.

**_Riina _**– I just love the twins and I love writing them. They are such great characters. And Ron and Hermoine, well, that's the only couple I really cheer for, so I am bound to be more... erm... awkwardly romantic when writing about them. Thank you for your review!

That's all folks! Now I'm going to go around reading other people's fanfic and, trust me, you'll still see my review on yours.


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